My co-founder and I have shared the co-CEO role for years, but our EOS implementation demands one name in the Integrator seat. How do we decide which of us sits there without damaging our partnership or confusing the team?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Shared accountability is no accountability. Having two names in the Integrator seat creates mass confusion, slows down decision-making, and splits the loyalty of your leadership team. To build an exit-ready company, you must establish clear, singular leadership.

Start by reviewing the core roles of the Visionary and Integrator seats. The Visionary focuses on big ideas, key relationships, research and development, and culture. The Integrator focuses on daily execution, project management, removing bottlenecks, and running the leadership team.

One of you must step into the Integrator seat, and the other must step into the Visionary seat, or one of you must move to a different leadership seat, such as Sales or Technology.

To make this decision, run an honest GWC™ evaluation on both of you for both seats. Ask yourselves who naturally enjoys the daily management and execution, and who prefers long-term planning and big-picture relationship building.

If both of you GWC™ the Integrator seat and neither wants to back down, you must IDS® this issue as partners. You cannot let your egos stand in the way of the structural health of the business.

Once you make the call, update the Accountability Chart and announce it to the team. Stand united behind the decision. The business now has a single point of operational accountability, which is exactly what a sophisticated buyer will look for when evaluating your company.